In an important development, the provincial capital’s local administration has suggested that artificial rain may be used to battle the continuous smog in the city, local media sources reported on Saturday.
According to reports, the Lahore commissioner has sent a summary to the government for artificial rainfall in the polluted city to scale down the level of lethal smog in this regard.
According to the summary, the task would cost around Rs350 million.
It is to mention here that artificial rain is produced by spraying clouds with substances like Silver Iodide or cheaper available options like solid carbon dioxide (dry ice) or even finely powdered Sodium Chloride. In a situation where there are clouds in the sky but no rain, it is a phenomenon called super-cooling.
According to reports, the meteorological department had successfully experimented the process in year 2001.
The experiment was also repeated to bring artificial rain in the catchment area of Hub Dam.
The authorities in Karachi were also considering the option of ‘cloud seeding’ to scale down the effects of the lethal heatwave in the metropolis after the scorching heat claimed around 1500 lives in the city.
Karachi authorities in those days hinted at using artificial rain in Karachi, in which a chemical will be sprinkled on clouds via aeroplanes, to seed the clouds for rainfall.
Pakistan Meteorological Department’s (PMD) director general at that time, Dr Ghulam Rasul was quoted as saying that “Most favourable weather for artificial rain is monsoon season. The success rate of such rains is higher than the procedures done during the non-monsoon days. Monsoon in Pakistan falls from July to September.”
The proposal, however, was left unimplemented mostly due to huge spending on the process.
